CHAPTER XV
[178], 6. King John ... came down to St. Edmund. John paid several visits to Bury Abbey during Samson's abbacy: once in 1199, immediately after his coronation, when he made the miserable offering described by Jocelin on p. 178; a second time in 1201, when returning from Northumberland; a third time in 1203, when, according to Rokewode (p. 154), "he made a pilgrimage to St. Edmund's, at the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, and gave the convent ten marcs annually, payable from the exchequer, for the repairs of the shrine of St. Edmund, in consideration of the monks giving back to the King, for his life, a sapphire and ruby, which he had offered to the Saint, and which were to revert to the convent." In connection with the disputed question of the nomination of Samson's successor (which lasted for over two years), John came to Bury on November 4, 1114, and meeting the monks in the chapter house, made them a speech as to his own rights in the matter, which is recorded in Arnold, II. xv. and 95-6.
[180], 7. Isaiah i. 2.
[182], 3. Matthew xii. 25.
[183], 9. In te vindicassem nisi iratus fuissem. Cic. Tusc. iv. 36.
[183], 14. Mark iv. 39.
[187], 20. seisin of the damsel. There was another claimant for the wardship of Nesta of Cockfield, not here mentioned, viz., King Richard I., who (see pp. 148-9) was defied by Samson, but was appeased by a present of some horses, dogs, and other valuable gifts. "Here you may see what misery followeth the tenure by Knight's service: if the tenant dieth, leaving his heir within age, how the poor child may be tossed and tumbled, chopped and changed, bought and sold like a jade in Smithfield, and what is more, married to whom it pleaseth his guardian, whereof ensue many evils" (Rastell: Terms of the Lawes of this Realm, ed. 1579, fol. 98).
[189], 6. Decipi quadam specie recti. Horace, De Arte Poetica, 25.
[189], 8. Isaiah xlii. 8.